This application is based on applications Nos. H09-027603, H09-027604, and H09-027606 filed in Japan, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image reproducing apparatus and an image control method for reproducing images by reading them, on the one hand, from a recording medium on which still pictures are recorded and, on the other hand, from another recording medium on which moving pictures are recorded.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally, video pictures and silver-halide film pictures are taken separately, and are viewed separately. Some image shooting apparatuses have both a video picture shooting function and a silver-halide film picture shooting function, and permit silver-halide film pictures to be shot simultaneously while a video picture is being shot, but even they allow only separate viewing of silver-halide film pictures and video pictures.
Thus, the capability of such shooting apparatuses for simultaneous shooting is far from being effectively exploited, as long as pictures of different shooting types, even if taken simultaneously, need to be viewed separately. Moreover, it is often the case that a recorded video picture, in its unedited state, is too lengthy for enjoyable viewing. Especially, it would take an unduly long time to view a long and pointlessly shot video picture without editing it. For this reason, although people do not bother to take much trouble in shooting video pictures, they tend to be unwilling to view already recorded video pictures very often, and many of the recorded video pictures are likely to be stored away, never to be viewed again.
In image reproducing apparatuses such as slide projectors, a series of images is presented successively by sequential feeding of slides that is achieved manually or semiautomatically through operation of a switch. This type of image reproducing apparatus deals only with silver-halide film pictures.
In a slide show, a plurality of slide projectors are used for presentation. Conventionally, a slide show is prepared on a personal computer by an operator who, for example, edits the order in which images are to be presented and the sound with which the images are to be accompanied. In such a slide show, reproduction of images is controlled by a tape or disk on which the program to be run as well as the sound to be reproduced is recorded.
In image reproducing apparatuses such as photo players, as silver-halide film pictures are reproduced on a monitoring device such as a television monitor, special effects are automatically added such as panning, i.e. sequential reproduction of an image from its left end to its right end, or tilting, i.e. similar reproduction of an image from its top end to its bottom end, and electronic music is added as well.
However, conventional image reproducing apparatuses and image control methods as mentioned above have the following disadvantages. In the above-mentioned slide projector, it is necessary to feed slides manually or through operation of a switch in order to view a series of images. In the above-mentioned slide show, one silver-halide film picture after another can be presented automatically, but it is necessary that an operator prepare the slide show in advance by entering an appropriate program and editing accompanying sound. In the above-mentioned photo player, it is not necessary to enter a program or edit sound, but reproduced images are always accompanied with music that has nothing to do with the images.
Some image reproducing apparatuses can, when they play back a video tape that has shooting dates and times recorded in data recording regions, search for a location where a new date starts before starting playback, or search for such locations one after another to play back 10 seconds from each location.
An object of the present invention is to provide an image reproducing apparatus and an image control method that permit, through simple operation, mixed viewing of moving pictures such as video pictures and still pictures such as silver-halide film pictures and that can present those pictures with due vividness typical of simultaneously shot pictures.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an image reproducing apparatus that automatically switches still pictures such as silver-halide film pictures in accordance with information related to simultaneous shooting.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an image reproducing apparatus that can also reproduce, if necessary, sound associated with still pictures presented.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an image reproducing apparatus that reproduces moving pictures such as video pictures in accordance with information related to simultaneous shooting and that can present those pictures with due vividness typical of simultaneously shot pictures.
To achieve the above objects, according to one aspect of the present invention, an image reproducing apparatus for use with a system that records still pictures on a first recording medium and moving pictures on a second recording medium and that records simultaneous shooting information on both recording media when the pictures are recorded simultaneously on both recording media is provided with a controller for controlling reproduction of the pictures recorded on the first recording medium in accordance with the simultaneous shooting information.
According to another aspect of the present invention, in an image control method for use with a system that records a still picture on a first recording medium and a moving picture on a second recording medium and that records simultaneous shooting information on both recording media when the pictures are recorded simultaneously on both recording media, reproduction of the picture recorded on the first recording medium is controlled in accordance with the simultaneous shooting information.
According to another aspect of the present invention, an image reproducing apparatus for use with a system that records a still picture on a first recording medium and a moving picture on a second recording medium and that records simultaneous shooting information on both recording media when the pictures are recorded simultaneously on both recording media is provided with a controller for controlling reproduction of the picture recorded on the second recording medium in accordance with the simultaneous shooting information.
According to another aspect of the present invention, in an image control method for use with a system that records a still picture on a first recording medium and a moving picture on a second recording medium and that records simultaneous shooting information on both recording media when the pictures are recorded simultaneously on both recording media, reproduction of the picture recorded on the second recording medium is controlled in accordance with the simultaneous shooting information.
According to another aspect of the present invention, an image reproducing apparatus for use with a system that records still pictures on a first recording medium and moving pictures on a second recording medium and that records simultaneous shooting information on both recording media when the pictures are recorded simultaneously on both recording media is provided with a controller for controlling simultaneous reproduction of the pictures recorded on the first and second recording media in accordance with the simultaneous shooting information.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, in an image control method for use with a system that records still pictures on a first recording medium and moving pictures on a second recording medium and that records simultaneous shooting information on both recording media when the pictures are recorded simultaneously on both recording media, wherein reproduction of the pictures recorded on the first and second recording media is controlled in accordance with the simultaneous shooting information.